BROOKLYN, MI - August 9: Riley Herbst, driver of the #18 Monster/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota, celebrates his win in the VizCom 200 for the ARCA Menards Series on August 9, 2020 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Allison Farrand/ARCA Racing)
Riley Herbst, driver of the #18 Monster/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota, in Victory Lane following his win in the VizCom 200 for the ARCA Menards Series on August 9, 2020 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Allison Farrand/ARCA Racing)

Riley Herbst Adds Contingency Awards To Michigan Win

www.arcaracing.com August 10, 2020

The result on Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway probably looked pretty familiar to most people: the Monster Energy-sponsored No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota pulling away late to win the VizCom 200 and celebrate in Victory Lane for the fourth time in eleven ARCA Menards Series races this year. When the smoke cleared from the burnouts, though, a different face emerged from the driver’s seat. Instead of 17-year old wonder Ty Gibbs climbing out of the car, it was 2017 Bounty Rookie of the Year and current full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst who took the checkered flag, a winner for the second time in his four-year AMS career. It was a same-place, different-face moment for the JGR team as Herbst propelled the crew to take home the winner’s trophy as well as a share of ARCA’s special contingency awards.

Due to current raceday procedures set in place by ARCA Menards Series officials, the starting lineup was set according to 2020 owners’ points. Riley Herbst was set to start from the General Tire Pole for the second time this season. Herbst joined teammate Ty Gibbs as two-time polesitters this season. Venturini Motorsports teammates Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) and Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) are tied for the most pole starts this year with three each.

Herbst was quickly challenged at the start by Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet), arguably the hottest driver in the ARCA Menards Series at the moment, and the pair began to swap the lead after Holmes assumed the point on lap four. It was the first of six lead changes between the two drivers on the afternoon. Holmes appeared to have the edge in the first two-thirds of the event, leading 61 total laps as the day’s Valvoline Lap Leader while also collecting the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader award for the third time this year, but Herbst got back past Holmes on lap 67 and never relinquished the lead. Herbst was the only other lap leader besides Holmes, pacing the field for 39 laps in his win.

The top two drivers in the yearlong Valvoline Lap Leader standings did not compete at Michigan, with Ty Gibbs holding at 531 laps led and Chandler Smith maintaining second with 297 laps led. Holmes jumped up to third place for the season with 168 laps led to date.

Herbst’s win earned Mark McFarland the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race honors, and it also furthered McFarland’s lead in the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings. McFarland’s top challenger is Kevin Reed, crew chief of Michael Self’s No. 25 Toyota. McFarland has 60 points on this season to Reed’s 67.

The win padded No. 18 car owner Coy Gibbs’ lead in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge race with just one superspeedway event left on the schedule. Ahead of Kansas in October, Gibbs’ No. 18 leads the field with 247 points. Several other owners are within striking distance of the No. 18 should the JGR effort stumble at Kansas: Stacy Holmes’ No. 23 has 243 points, just four behind the No. 18 team, while Venturini Motorsports has two team cars still in the race. Cathy Venturini’s No. 25 has 241 points and Bill Venturini’s No. 20 has 238 points.

Thanks to a fourth-place finish in his Michigan debut, Drew Dollar (No. 15 Sunbelt Rentals Toyota) was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race and took the lead in the Bounty Rookie of the Year standings. The advantage for Dollar is minimal, though, as Hailie Deegan (No. 4 Monster Energy Ford) has 397 rookie points to Dollar’s 398 points.

Jason Kitzmiller (No. 97 ALL Construction Chevrolet) tied his career-best ARCA Menards Series finish on Sunday when he came home in eighth, matching his run at Talladega in June. Kitzmiller collected hardware in the form of the K&N Filters Hard Charger award for gaining eight positions during the race from his 16th-place starting spot.

Michael Self finished on the lead lap for the tenth time in eleven AMS races this season and continues to lead the S&S Volvo Laps Completed award standings, having completed 1361 of a possible 1363 laps during the 2020 season.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series is the General Tire 100 from the Daytona International Speedway road course. In addition to being the first series on track during NASCAR’s debut race weekend on the storied road course, the General Tire 100 is also part of two prestigious in-season AMS championships. This will serve as the road course round of the CGS Imaging Four Crown, a four-race series at four distinctly different tracks that kicked off with the superspeedway round at Michigan. The Four Crown will conclude with a dirt track race at DuQuoin and a short track race at Memphis. Riley Herbst leads the Four Crown standings on the basis of his win at Michigan, but he is not expected to compete in the remaining three races that make up the Four Crown schedule. Michigan runner-up Bret Holmes is the leader among full-time drivers with 42 points. The General Tire 100 will be the sixth event in the Sioux Chief Showdown series of races. Chandler Smith currently leads the Showdown standings with 201 points, with Michael Self and Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet) present as his main adversaries with 195 and 194 points, respectively.

The General Tire 100 at the DAYTONA Road Course will begin at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 14. Live coverage of the historic ARCA Menards Series event will be carried by MAVTV and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.